Sew Back to School

Well, here we are, in week 7 of school, and I’m posting a BTS blog post! I love that this season is being extended, because, maybe some of us don’t actually get anything new sewn before school starts. Maybe if I had sewn all their clothes, they would have been warm weather clothes, because that’s the time of year school starts here, or maybe I just like having inspiration spread out. My kids are home schooled, which means the school year means less sewing time for me, but I still made a few simple garments for them. Comfort is king for us. There are no dress codes to follow, or other kids to impress. We do school all over the house, at the table, on the floor, in our beds, outside. I knew the things my kids would want and need to wear would be comfy basics.

I immediately wanted to sew up the Jalie Nico raglan for my son. I am a huge fan of Jalie patterns, so I was excited to try this. I love that they include a HUGE size range. Like from 2 (toddler) to men’s plus sizes. All in one pattern. All of their patterns are like this. Go check them out now! You can purchase them with a small discount too, if you buy 3. So, I save up until I have 3 on my wishlist, then get them with a discount. The prices are in CAD, which also means it will be a bit cheaper if you’re in the US. Any way you look at it, it’s a great deal for high quality patterns.

For these raglans, I made them all long sleeve, since that’s what the weather will call for, for the bulk of the school year. I used fun prints I knew he would like, without straying too far from my preference to a RTW aesthetic. For the grey shirt, with dino print sleeves, he picked the neckband color out of my solid fabric choices. And the camp shirt is an epicycle from one of my husband’s old t-shirts. My son loves that. 🙂 Also, when your 4 year old is a professional model:

I also got to try a new-to-me designer. I’ve known of Petitboo for a long time. I actually looked long and hard at her Pepperberry dress once, when it was on a flash Friday sale. A LONG time ago. So I was excited to sew this up. Now, this pattern is FULL of options, straight hem, shirt-tail hem (I’m crushing on this look), high-low hem, sleeve length options, cowl neck, pockets, elastic, or shirred waist, ETC… And they’re all mix and match. I took a while to pick which view I wanted to sew, and I feel a little like I’m not showing the full range of the pattern well, but I knew I had to stick with what is the most “me.” So, I made the 3/4 length sleeve, high-low hem dress, with a neckband. This pattern is drafted well, the pattern came out TTS, and I love the clear directions, with clear pictures. I’m happy to recommend this pattern to anyone! I made it in this fun star print so she could have a dress that coordinated with her brother’s star sleeve raglan. These pictures are precious to me. My middle two are the two that fight the most, and to see them having fun together in pictures will remind me that they do love each other, underneath all the crazy.

This Back to School blog tour is hosted by Ula Pohl, and Deb Zaleski, and there are tons of amazing outfits on the tour. You can look at the schedule, and see what everyone else has made! The sponsors for this tour have been very generous, and you can read about them here. The Pepperberry dress, and the Nico raglan patterns were provided to me from their respective companies for this blog tour.